Melanie, adopted from China at 16 months, was four years old when she came to the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy. She had significant developmental delays and suffered from night terrors and fears of abandonment. After two years in group therapy, she began individual music therapy to better address her emotional needs. This fascinating case study, with 29 video excerpts, examines Melanie's seven-year course of therapy. Through singing and instrumental and dramatic play-first with toy dinosaurs and then stuffed bears, which she brought from home each week-Melanie expresses her internal struggles: Will I be abandoned again? Am I worthy of someone's love? Where do I fit in? What kind of person do I want to be? She uses her blossoming musical gifts to give voice to her conflicts as she searches for her identity-singing about how lonely it is to be an only child, for example, or improvising piano pieces to portray her different moods.

Melanie, adopted from China at 16 months, was four years old when she came to the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy. She had significant developmental delays and suffered from night terrors and fears of abandonment. After two years in group therapy, she began individual music therapy to better address her emotional needs. This fascinating case study, with 29 video excerpts, examines Melanie's seven-year course of therapy. Through singing and instrumental and dramatic play-first with toy dinosaurs and then stuffed bears, which she brought from home each week-Melanie expresses her internal struggles: Will I be abandoned again? Am I worthy of someone's love? Where do I fit in? What kind of person do I want to be? She uses her blossoming musical gifts to give voice to her conflicts as she searches for her identity-singing about how lonely it is to be an only child, for example, or improvising piano pieces to portray her different moods.